


(Semi)-Temporary Transformations

by Eggling



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-10-20 22:45:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10672308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggling/pseuds/Eggling
Summary: In which the Doctor undergoes some (not-so-)drastic changes.





	(Semi)-Temporary Transformations

“Really, now, I don’t see what all the fuss is about.” The Doctor waddled around the console determinedly, seemingly unaware of Zoe’s giggles and the mixture of surprise, horror, and utter confusion that Jamie felt sure was showing on his face. “My condition is perfectly manageable, I’m more than capable of -”

“Ye cannae even reach the controls, Doctor,” Jamie pointed out. The Doctor huffed, shaking himself irritably.

“Can’t reach the controls? We’ll see about -” His flipper smacked against the edge of the console uselessly. “Oh, this is ridiculous. Be a dear and lift me up, won’t you, Jamie?” Seemingly sensing that Jamie was in no fit state to approach the Doctor, let alone hold him steady, Zoe sighed and lifted him herself. “Thank you, Zoe.” It took him several tries to push the right buttons and pull the right levers, but at last the ship shuddered and wheezed into flight.

“I don’t understand what happened, Doctor,” Zoe ventured at last. Jamie could almost see the cogs whirring in her mind, her fingers curling as if around a pen, itching to describe, to hypothesise, to understand. “How can something like this happen? The rest of your mass must have gone somewhere but you’re… well, you’re noticeably smaller.”

“Ah, yes. Well, let’s not worry too much about the semantics of the whole thing, shall we? It has happened, after all, and we just need to find a way to fix it.” The Doctor managed to make his way over to Jamie without tripping, giving a pleased little honk as he came to a halt. “Jamie, you’re rather quiet.”

Jamie shrugged. “What would ye say if your husband was turned into a penguin?”

“Oh, I expect it’s only temporary.” The TARDIS ground to a halt, and the Doctor waddled towards the doors. “Come along, you two.”

“Doctor!” The Doctor froze at Jamie’s cry. “Ye cannae go out like that, surely.”

“Why not?”

“You’re a penguin,” Zoe pointed out. “What if we’re on Earth? What would people think of a penguin walking down the street?”

Jamie grinned as a sudden thought struck him. “They don’t usually seem to think anything of seeing the Doctor. There’s no’ that much difference, when ye think about it.”

“Hush, Jamie.”

* * *

“Is something wrong?” The Doctor nudged against Jamie’s arm again, and Jamie finally tore his gaze away from the waves lapping at the shore. “You’ve found something?”

He held out his hands for the Doctor to drop a pebble into them, honking proudly. Jamie turned it over in his hands, trying to figure out what was special about this one. Surely there were thousands just like it all over the beach.

“I thought you might like it,” the Doctor explained, flippers moving wildly. It was uncanny how recognisable the Doctor seemed, Jamie thought, even when he was a penguin. And strangest of all, his voice coming out of that wee beak – Zoe had spent days trying to rationalise it, talking about vocal cords and lip shapes and semi-telepathic communication, but Jamie had merely settled for the feeling of vague discomfort.

“Aye, it’s very pretty.” The Doctor settled in his lap contentedly, leaning over to pick up more pebbles and deposit them around them both. “Hey, are you nesting?”

“Of course not,” the Doctor snapped, struggling to lift a particularly large pebble. “I’m just – decorating.”

“Of course ye are.”

* * *

Zoe’s frustrated shouts and a great deal of crashing, squawking, and flapping drew Jamie’s attention to one of the TARDIS’ many laboratory rooms. He hesitated outside the door for a moment, unsure of whether or not he should interrupt.

“Don’t _push_ me, Zoe! I’m not a specimen to be poked and prodded, you know!”

“I’m just trying to perform some simple tests,” Zoe snapped back as Jamie pushed the door open. “We’d be done by now if you stopped squirming – ow!” She snatched her hand away, pursing her lips as she rubbed the bitten finger. “If you’re going to act like a bird, I’ll have to run more tests.”

“Aye, he does that,” Jamie put in. Zoe looked up and startled at the sight of him grinning and leaning on the door frame, giving the Doctor the opening he needed to scramble away, waddling over to Jamie eagerly. “Gave me a bad nip when I didnae wake up early enough yesterday morning.”

“I didn’t mean to,” the Doctor muttered, but he had the grace to look a little abashed. “And it might have escaped your notice, but I can’t exactly get myself breakfast when I’m like this, can I?”

“Ye didn’t have tae peck so hard!”

Zoe cleared her throat pointedly, already reaching for her clipboard. “I’m sorry to interrupt this little marriage spat, but what exactly did he eat?”

“Och, I dinnae remember.”

“Nothing unusual, then?”

“I may look like a penguin, but I don’t have to eat like one,” the Doctor said. “You’re determined to carry out these tests, aren’t you?”

“I have to understand how this works,” Zoe said reasonably. “How else do you expect us to fix you?” The Doctor slumped in resignation, seeming to deflate, his previously puffed-up feathers flattening back against his body. “Just step on these scales.” She winked at Jamie conspiratorially. “Doctors make the worst patients, you know.”

* * *

“Jamie?”

“Mm?”

“I’ve got something for you.” The Doctor sat down heavily on the rock beside him, his hands closed around some small object. “Close your eyes and open your hands, hm?”

Jamie did as he was told, feeling something small and round drop into his palms. “I’m glad Zoe got ye back to normal,” he said as the Doctor closed his fingers around the object.

“Normal?”

“Well, you’re… ye ken. Not a penguin anymore.” Jamie opened his eyes, revealing the pebble in his hands. “At least, I thought ye weren’t. Still nesting, are we?”

The Doctor smiled innocently. “I just thought it was pretty, that’s all.”

“Aye, I’ll put it with the others, shall I?” Jamie tucked the stone into his sporran, unable to hide his smile at the Doctor’s obvious pride. “There ye go, preening like a penguin again.” They turned in unison at the sound of Zoe picking her way down the hill behind them, loose sand and rocks skittering down ahead of her. “And there’s our wee chick, I suppose.”

The Doctor gave a honk of laughter at that, freezing as soon as he registered the distinctly inhuman noise he had made. He gave Jamie a look that was half frustration and half dread, then turned to Zoe dangerously slowly as she approached.

“Zoe, are you quite sure you managed to turn me back?”


End file.
